Incident objectives that drive incident operations are established by the:

Incident objectives that drive incident operations are established by the:

A. Planning Section Chief

B. Operations Section Chief

C. Incident Commander or Unified Command

D. Agency Administrator

Answer: C. Incident Commander or Unified Command

The Incident Commander or the Unified Command sets incident objectives that make or drive the overall incident operations. These objectives are explicitly identified with measurable targets that give directions to which strategies and tactics will be used to properly manage the occurrence.

The Incident Commander or the Unified Command, which is composed of the chiefs of the agencies or organizations that are responding to the incident, has the authority to determine the priorities and the objectives. The priorities and objectives are mainly based on the findings of the situation assessment and the amount of resources that are available. Subsequently, the objectives of the incident are disseminated among the relevant sections of the incident management team, including the Planning Section Chief and Operations Section Chief; these two chiefs develop and implement action plans leading to the achievement of those objectives.

Setting the incident objectives by the Incident Commander or Unified Command helps the command having a unified chain of command and a clear approach that will be applied to face up the incident’s complexity and problems.